June 2, 2010 – In 1977 the Marquette Warriors defeated the heavily favored North Carolina Tar Heels to win the NCAA basketball championship. Their strength was tenacious team defense drilled into them by their great coach, Al McGuire. Always the master of the one-liner, Al believed the secret to success was to “Keep it simple, when you get too complex you forget the obvious." Lawyers and law firms looking to create growth could take a lesson from Al McGuire.

A blinding flash of the obvious

Most lawyers understand the number one place to look for increased business is among their firm’s existing clients. This is because a relationship has already been created with a lawyer the client knows, likes, and trusts. Team selling is a method to leverage this relationship into a growth opportunity. Despite this obvious conclusion, many lawyers and firms routinely fail to make team selling an effective business development strategy. As a result, to paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone talks about team selling, but nobody does anything about it.

What is team selling?

Team selling is really not about selling at all. It is a specific strategic objective. It is a method to keep current clients by establishing as many points of contact with the law firm as possible. It is also a way to expand current client relationships by inquiring into any additional legal challenges a client may have. Clients must be viewed as corporate assets, which belong to the firm as a whole, and, accordingly, must be shared. Therefore, the lawyer should be familiar with other clients of the firm, including understanding the client’s business and industry.

Common obstacles to team selling

The failure to focus on client satisfaction is an obstacle to team selling. Expanding a client relationship is not about forcing unneeded legal services upon a client. The idea is to inquire what the client’s critical legal needs may be. As an example, if the client is a business, what issues keep the executives up at night? Chances are the law firm can offer a solution. The lawyer’s focus should not be on how to “get” more from the client but rather how to “do” more for the client. A first step is to determine whether the client is satisfied with the firm’s services to begin with. A client must be very satisfied with your current services and must trust you to give you more work.

Communication can be another obstacle to team selling. A lawyer can’t market a partner’s practice if they are not familiar with what he or she does. Having an effective team selling program requires an internal method to distribute news about successful transactions and court cases the lawyers have achieved. Lawyers must also be proactive about internal networking to learn more about their partners’ practices and clients.

Fear of the unknown can be a much more subtle obstacle. Lawyers rarely fear that one of their partners will do a poor job for their client. However, what they do fear is losing control of the client relationship. Every client has specific and often unique traits that the lawyer has taken great effort to address as their relationship has developed. The risk of losing this personal relationship and the business that flows from it when another lawyer is introduced to the client increases if these matters are not handled properly. Successful client sharing activities require a high degree of detail and trust.

Compensation can be a major obstacle to successful team selling. If there is no incentive within the firm’s compensation system to market the services of others, then lawyers will often not spend their time on team-selling activities. Traditional “eat-what-you-kill” compensation systems, where a lawyer gets origination credit solely for the new business he or she brings in for themselves, are fatal to team selling. Team selling requires lawyers to work together, and the firm must give credit for the fruits of a successful team effort.

Common excuses for not engaging in team selling

Lawyers frequently offer the same standard excuses for not engaging in team-selling activities. One is that the lawyer sees no additional opportunities with any of their specific clients. This usually means the lawyer has not investigated the opportunities fully. Even when there are known opportunities, the client may have long-term relationships with other law firms in these other practice areas. While often true, this situation should be a call to urgency as the other firms will look to push the lawyer aside to expand their own business. Lawyers also frequently wait for the client to initiate contact if and when they are needed. This passive posture will not create success. As the great country lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, observed, “Good things come to those who wait, but only what is left behind by those who hustle.”

Creating a team-selling plan

An effective plan begins with realistic and achievable goals. Lawyers can start by identifying clients who might benefit from team selling. At the initial organizational meeting, lawyers should be prepared to share details about these clients with their partners. Collectively, the team can decide how best to handle the necessary client contacts. Create a timeline to show who will be accountable for each activity. Hold regular meetings to evaluate the progress of the team. For these reasons, lawyers and law firms often use a facilitator to keep the team-selling initiative on track.

Team selling is an obvious method to increase business. However, lawyers cannot team sell unless they recognize an opportunity exists. These same lawyers should not team sell unless they trust that other lawyers in the firm will not damage their client relationship. In the end, most lawyers will not team sell unless there is a tangible reward within their compensation system. Putting this all together requires a detailed plan and focus to create economic success.

As basketball legend Michael Jordan observed, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

Michael Moore, Lewis and Clark 1983, is a professional coach for lawyers and the founder of Moore’s Law, Milwaukee. He specializes in marketing, client development, and leadership coaching for attorneys at all levels of experience. Moore also advises law firms on strategic planning and resource optimization. He has more than 25 years’ experience in private practice, as a general counsel, in law firm management, and in legal recruiting. For more information, visit www.moores-law.com.

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